The French
freighter ''La Coubre'' () exploded in the harbour of
Havana
Havana (; ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.[Cuba
Cuba, officially the Republic of Cuba, is an island country, comprising the island of Cuba (largest island), Isla de la Juventud, and List of islands of Cuba, 4,195 islands, islets and cays surrounding the main island. It is located where the ...](_bl ...<br></span></div>, <div class=)
, on 4 March 1960 while it was unloading 76 tons of grenades and munitions. Seventy-five to 100 people were killed, and many were injured.
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
alleged it was an act of
sabotage
Sabotage is a deliberate action aimed at weakening a polity, government, effort, or organization through subversion, obstruction, demoralization (warfare), demoralization, destabilization, divide and rule, division, social disruption, disrupti ...
on the part of the United States, which denied any involvement.
Events
''La Coubre'', a 4,310-ton French vessel, was on 4 March 1960 unloading her cargo of 76 tons of Belgian munitions she had transported from the port of
Antwerp
Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...
in Belgium to Havana. Unloading explosive ordnance directly onto the dock in Havana was against port regulations. Ships with such cargoes were supposed to be moored in the center of the harbor and their high-risk cargo unloaded onto
lighters.
The ship exploded at 3:10 pm. Thirty minutes after the first explosion, while hundreds of people were involved in a rescue operation organized by the
Cuban military, a second, more powerful explosion killed and injured more people.
At the time of the explosion,
Che Guevara
Ernesto "Che" Guevara (14th May 1928 – 9 October 1967) was an Argentines, Argentine Communist revolution, Marxist revolutionary, physician, author, Guerrilla warfare, guerrilla leader, diplomat, and Military theory, military theorist. A majo ...
(who was a trained doctor) was in a meeting at the
National Institute of Agrarian Reform (NIAR) headquarters. He drove to the scene and spent the next few hours giving medical attention to the crew members, armed forces personnel, and dock workers who had been injured. The death toll was between 75 and 100; more than 200 people were injured.
Reaction

Speaking the next day at a funeral for 27 dock workers killed by the explosions,
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
said that the United States was responsible for the explosion, calling it "the work of those who do not wish us to receive arms for our defense". U.S. Secretary of State
Christian Herter denied that on 7 March in a meeting with the Cuban chargé d'affaires in Washington, then delivered a formal note of protest to Cuban Foreign Minister
Raul Roa on 15 March.
On 7 March, the ''
Miami Herald
The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by McClatchy, The McClatchy Company and headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida. Founded in 1903, it is the fifth-largest newspaper in Florida, serving Miami-Dade, Broward County, Fl ...
'' reported charges made by Jack Lee Evans, an American who had just returned from Havana where he had been working for and living with
William Alexander Morgan, an American who had commanded rebel forces during the
Cuban Revolution
The Cuban Revolution () was the military and political movement that overthrew the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista, who had ruled Cuba from 1952 to 1959. The revolution began after the 1952 Cuban coup d'état, in which Batista overthrew ...
. He said he had boarded the ''La Coubre'' on 2 March with Morgan and others to transport machine guns and ammunition to the NIAR. He said he had learned of a plot by an
anti-communist dockworker to explode the ship, did not think Morgan was involved, and now feared for his life. Morgan denied ever being aboard the ship and said of Evans: "The kid has to be out of his mind to say a thing like that." Morgan was arrested seven months later, accused of supporting counter-revolutionaries, and executed in March 1961.
Alberto Korda took photos at the March 5 memorial service at Havana's
Colón Cemetery, including the photo ''
Guerrillero Heroico'', which has become an iconic image of Che Guevara.
Fate of La Coubre
''La Coubre'', named for a point of land along the Atlantic coast of France,
La Coubre, was towed to a dry-dock in
Havana Harbor where she underwent extensive temporary repairs for five months to make her sufficiently seaworthy to be towed to France. ''La Coubre'' was towed by the Dutch merchant ''Oostzee'' to Le Havre, arriving 26 September 1960. Two tugboats moved ''La Coubre'' to the French port of
Rouen
Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine, in northwestern France. It is in the prefecture of Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one ...
on the
Seine
The Seine ( , ) is a river in northern France. Its drainage basin is in the Paris Basin (a geological relative lowland) covering most of northern France. It rises at Source-Seine, northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plat ...
. Here she underwent her permanent repairs, completed in April 1961.
When returned to service she continued to be owned and operated by the French
Compagnie Générale Transatlantique until 1972, when she was sold to the Dorothea shipping company in
Cyprus
Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...
and renamed ''Barbara''. Later the vessel was renamed ''Notios Hellas'' and ''Agia Marina'' until 1979 when she was sold to a Spanish company to be scrapped.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Coubre Explosion
Explosions in 1960
March 1960 in North America
Explosions in Cuba
Transport disasters in Cuba
Che Guevara
1960 in Cuba
1960s in Havana
Cuba–United States relations
Maritime incidents in 1960
Shipwrecks in the Caribbean Sea
Ships built in France
Terrorist incidents in Cuba
Aftermath of the Cuban Revolution
Naval magazine explosions
1960 in military history
Disasters in Havana